New Visions
by mytruenorth
Summary: DG has been having dreams again and she isn't sure if she can trust them. Where will these new visions lead her, and who is sending them?  Story will eventually reach M rating for violence. Pairings include DG/Cain & some Az/Glitch. 3/? chapters done.
1. Phantoms

Chapter 1 – Phantoms

They came to her at night, so similar to her visions of the O.Z. from before that she believed their content before she even wondered if it was wise to do so. It scared her; the fact that she could be manipulated so easily by a dream, before she even knew where it was coming from. She had caught herself packing a small bag for the journey when she was reminded of all of the possible threats that could be awaiting her. She was the Royal Slipper, after all – the connection between Earth and the O.Z., and that made her a very valuable hostage should someone feel so inclined. (And oh, how so many did!) She'd found her life threatened a number of times in the year or so since the eclipse, so what made this any different from the deception of someone in person? She was smart enough to know better by now- she'd faced death in various forms, not just in her journey through the O.Z. but afterwards at the hands of various would-be assassins and captors that were always thwarted in the end. Sometimes it was Cain (and she figured this was only because he was the least hesitant of the lot of them, because the others were plenty willing to take action when they got there). But more often than not (and this was occurring with more frequency as time went on) she managed in one way or another to get herself out of trouble. Once, Cain and the others had burst into a tower where she was being held captive only to find DG hugging her guard as he sobbed into her shoulder. She had counseled him into submission. (Most of the time with her there was either magic or a blunt instrument involved…) But in any case, the point was that DG knew danger. So why weren't these visions ringing alarm bells in her brain?

DG forced herself to unpack what she had shoved hastily into a small leather bag on her bed. She diligently folded everything and put it back in its proper place, not because she was concerned with neatness by any means but because it distracted her from feeling the need to think any further about whether the dreams were truth or deception. But of course, as soon as everything was put away again, she realized that it was still only about four-thirty in the morning. No one else would be awake to provide conversation that could distract her, not even Cain. So instead, she perched herself on the edge of her already-made bed (because she had woken with the knowledge that she would not be able to go back to sleep). All she could do now was think, and as much as she tried to think of something, _anything_ else, her thoughts always drifted back to those visions that had been coming to her for about a week now.

This hadn't been the first time she'd sat and thought about the dreams. In fact, the very first night, when she awoke feeling an urgent need to travel miles and miles to follow the vision, she realized how completely insane the idea of doing such a thing was and forced herself to go back to sleep. And since then, when she thought about the legitimacy of the visions, she had always been unable to come to a conclusion. But she couldn't understand why. All rational thought told her that she should be careful and that she should treat them as a threat until she knew otherwise. But for some reason, she just couldn't. There was just something…_familiar_ about them, something she couldn't identify, but something she knew she recognized to a degree that made her judgment lapse. There was something…enchanting…about them…as there had been in the very first visions she'd had of the O.Z. (but still somehow different). She was still very, painfully aware that the whole thing could be the plot of another magic user in the realm to kidnap or kill her. And that was what ate at her the most- she knew the danger here, but she couldn't convince herself to think badly of the visions or whoever was sending them.

This separation between what she _thought_ she should be feeling and what she actually felt ate at her more and more every time she was visited by the dreams again. And the worst part, perhaps, was the fact that she couldn't mention it to anyone. As she sat on the bed reflecting, she pulled her feet up off the floor and hugged her knees to her chest, suddenly feeling cold and vulnerable in her cotton yellow pajamas. She had tried, more than once, when the visions were still relatively new, to tell someone, but something always stopped her. She remembered spending an entire day working up the courage to speak to her mother about it. She'd waited until they were alone in their evening lessons to attempt it.

"Mom?" she began, having been unable to concentrate on her handwriting practice for the past few minutes. Her mother lifted those sad, lavender eyes up to her and smiled that sweet, broken smile she'd come to know so well and DG felt her determination beginning to fall away already.

"Yes, darling?" the queen answered, setting her own writing implement aside for the time being. DG looked upon her mother and all of the history written into her skin and eyes. Her face was lined not with age but with emotion, from so long ago when she had died at the hands of the witch within her older sister, and from all the subsequent years of sacrifices and imprisonment. Her hair was streaked with grey from when she had sacrificed her own magic to save her. But her eyes were the most profound mark that the years of suffering had made on her, those tragic eyes that had beckoned her in dreams. Her mother had endured so much, she couldn't possible ask her to endure any more, not when she could protect her from it. She couldn't let her lose another second of sleep over her. Not ever. At first, she wasn't sure how to recover and her breath visibly faltered for a split second.

"Love you," she said finally, her lips turning up at the corners even as her heart fell into her stomach. Her mother's smile widened, and her eyes brightened ever so slightly in reaction to the words.

"I love you too, my darling," she returned, and picked up her quill again to continue writing her letters. DG did the same hesitantly. She felt her eyes sting in reaction to more or less lying to her mother, but forced her body to cooperate with her deception for now. The next day, the situation proved to be the same with Ahamo. He'd been without all of them for so long, she didn't want to be responsible for taking anything away from him. Besides, even if he would handle the news better, she was sure he wouldn't keep the information from her mother, which would just lead her back to square one.

In Azkadelia's case, DG was even more hesitant. Az had also borne a burden, but she had been far less conscious of everything that had happened to her, unable to actively deal with her own emotions. When she'd tried to tell her, her sister had only been able to look at her intensely with those dark eyes that seemed to ask her what new pain she was going to have to go through. And it made DG remember how broken her sister still was behind those walls of feigned happiness she displayed to the others. To this day, she was sure she was the only one to see past them. Instead of saying what she had been preparing to say, DG instead took her sister's hand into hers, just to watch her face light up with relief and comfort.

When speaking to Ambrose, DG simply found that he couldn't stay in one personality or the other long enough to focus on what she was saying. It wasn't that she felt she couldn't speak to both sides of him at once; it was just that, since his brain had been put back together, he'd had more difficulty remembering things in the short-term sense. Somehow though, he always managed to remember them later, when they could be considered "long-term". Everyone had come to refer to the period of memory loss as "the dark phase" or "going dark". Besides this, he tended to overreact about things nowadays, as if the more emotional Glitch and the more logical Ambrose were battling back and forth for control over the whole brain. Raw she avoided all together, too afraid of what he would See in her if he knew. And Toto too. He knew her well than she liked to admit.

DG's eyes snapped open. She was still seated on the edge of her bed, hugging her legs to her chest. She hadn't even realized she'd closed her eyes. But as _he_ came into her mind, she found her concentration utterly shattered. She hadn't attempted to tell Cain about the visions yet, and she knew now that she would have to, as terrifying as that option was to her. It wasn't his reaction that she was afraid of, although he could certainly be unpredictable when he wanted to… It was just that, out of all of them, even her own family, she was sure he was the one that knew her best. And honestly, that was just so _terrifying_ to her. He would know exactly how she felt, exactly what her doubts and conflicts were, and it was just so crazy to think that he might possibly know her better than even she did. But now that she had found herself preparing to run off into the wilderness for the second time since the dreams began, she realized she had to gather the courage to face him. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the glow of the sunrises beginning to shine through her windows, which meant it had to be at least six by now. (Had she really spent so long thinking about this?) Her head turned back to face the door, remembering the places Cain liked to be in the morning. If he wasn't in the kitchen making coffee or breakfast, he'd probably be in the garden. Despite this knowledge, DG still couldn't make herself go to him, and she quickly became frustrated at her own nervousness.

Eventually, as the youngest princess always seemed to do, she mustered up the courage to face the Tin Man, and descended into the chilly spring morning of the gardens before her fear could change her mind for her. Unfortunately, DG's fears returned to her and gripped her with a vengeance once the moment of truth came (in that stubborn way that fear insists upon people sometimes). Her feet had stomped determinedly across the dewy grass for about twenty to thirty paces before they refused to move any more. DG was even leaning forward in anticipation for the next step when she froze, which lead to a rather confused stumble in which she very nearly tumbled to the ground. She lifted her head to stare at the back of this man, so intimidating and so comforting at the same time, and she found she couldn't will her body to do anything but produce tears.

DG was quite sure she'd never faced anything quite like this before. She had always had at least a slight measure of control until now- even locked up in the sarcophagus a year ago, she had eventually made her way out alone. Until now, that was the most panic she had ever let herself feel. But now she was drowning in the world. She was, for the first time, helpless, and the feeling made her physically hurt. She had not been born to be a helpless girl (something she proved to the people of the O.Z. time and time again after her return). She faced ravenous Papay, corrupted guards and scientists, evil witches, lecherous suitors and even abductors and attempted murderers, and she always managed to emerge from whatever fray as the same, Kansas farm girl she had been going in. She was tough, and she knew this, which was probably why this whole situation was making her fall apart so easily. Facing uncertainty and the only man who could possibly save her from it, DG was more cowardly than she had been even as a child. She was hurt and angry and confused and the way her body refused to cooperate with her wishes made her even more frustrated. She willed herself to stop crying after only one or two drops of salt were wasted onto the ground, angrily wiping the excess water out of her eyes with the back of her hand.

She forced herself to look back up at the figure of Wyatt Cain as the chill of her dew-soaked feet began to shudder up her legs and back. Even her body, weakened from the grief and the lack of sleep, was tired of waiting for something to happen. She wanted to collapse under her own weight and lose herself to forgetful blackness and never have to worry about visions or obligations again. Instead, her feet carried her towards the Tin Man in the gazebo. She'd been standing there motionless long enough that her entire body had gone cold, and as the blood began to pump a little faster again, she felt a sensation like cold needles start in the bottom of her feet and shoot up her entire body in a painful shiver. She halted again when the chill became too much for her, and looked up from the shadow Cain was casting over her in the new, brighter rays of sunlight peeking over the crest of the forest.

"Cain?" she spoke, and her voice broke with a sound as if she were about to burst into tears. Her eyes immediately fell to the ground, ashamed that she'd let her body betray her weakness in that moment when she needed so much to be strong. She cleared her throat awkwardly, already feeling that sting again in the corner of her eyes, and forced herself to look back up. He had already turned and was looking at her as if she were a woman he had never seen before. There was something dark in his eyes, not angry, maybe sad (but she could never really tell with him). When she was brave enough to speak again, her voice was closer to normal, if still somewhat shaky.

"Can I talk to you about something?" She realized then that she was shivering- it hit her like someone had suddenly dumped a bucket of cold water over her head. She folded her arms against her chest and cursed herself for forgetting to at least grab a sweater and some shoes. She felt like an idiot standing there in front of the Tin Man, shivering and staring at her feet as they gradually seemed to turn blue before her very eyes.

Cain hadn't heard DG's determined approach, hadn't been aware of her miniature breakdown behind his back, hadn't even known she was there until her voice rose from the silence around him, barely loud enough to hear and utterly broken in a way he had never heard her voice before. It was rare that she was ever able to catch him off guard, but it had happened before and he would be a fool if he tried to say it would never happen again. In any case, at that noise that honestly scared him, Cain immediately turned and saw DG in a state that scared him even more. His heart was immediately pounding as he saw how unlike herself she was. She hadn't slept the night before, and it showed in her face. Her eyes did not sparkle and there were bags under them, made only darker by the pallor of her skin. She was so white he almost mistook her for one of the wraithlike visions he saw of her more than he liked to admit. (Because, you see, sometimes in the night he would wake up thinking she was dead. And he wouldn't be able to breath. And he could only console himself by making his way to her bedroom and peeking in to see the gentle rise and fall of her form in the bed.) His eyes stung involuntarily until he realized he was not dreaming and she was very real and not a phantom. But she still looked as if she had laid out in the grass and let the dew soak into every inch of her, the way she was shivering head to toe. And she was standing there in her strange nightclothes from the Other Side and without any long sleeves to keep her warm and she just looked so lost in the night, he had to swallow the lump that was growing in his throat.

"Of course, Princess," he said, as quickly as he could bring himself to. He immediately regretted it as she closed her eyes and seemed to curl into herself in response. She tried to stifle something that sounded like a sob, but what he suspected to be her attempt at a laugh. Her legs looked ready to buckle underneath her own weight and he could only focus on the white dryness of her lips as she finally answered him again.

"Please, Wyatt-" and her voice died away here because she so very rarely called him by his first name, it was so familiar. And they both felt the affection in it and couldn't move for a moment. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably and forced her raspy voice out again. "Don't call me that. I need my friend, not my bodyguard." This may have sounded harsh to him any other time, but the way she was crumbling before him he was sure he would have agreed to anything she said in that moment. In this case, he responded by coming down the stairs to her and removing his long jacket, setting it over her shoulders and pulling it tight around her to encompass her it what had formerly been his own body heat.

"DG," he said evenly, trying to remain calm because he knew it was what she needed. "You know you can tell me anything." He couldn't bring himself to let go of her, and he was ashamed to admit that it was because he selfishly needed to be assured of how real she was. She still seemed ghostly to him. He was too afraid that if he let go of her, she would fade and leave him alone. (And if there was anything he had learned from this girl and the dreams he was having of her, it was that he never wanted to be without her.) But, as selfish as it might have been for him to hold onto her like that, she showed him that she needed his arm there as much as he did by leaning into him and taking a moment to inhale slowly and try to calm herself down. At the shaky sound her breath made, Cain couldn't help but frown thoughtfully. His hand rubbed up and down her arm unconsciously to warm her as his eyes flickered back towards the castle. "C'mon," he said, after a moment. "Let's get back inside."


	2. Voices

**A/N:** Guys, I am SO sorry this took so long. You have no idea how busy I've been lately. School assignments and internships and sleep deprivation. I won't go into it, but let me just say, it was _not_ pretty. I swear to you, the chapters will come more frequently now that I have this huge project out of the way. There may be one or two minor delays, I do have a 50 page script to write after all, but I promise, you will never have to wait quite as long again. Hope you guys enjoy the new chapter! As always, reviews are welcome and appreciated. :)

Chapter 2 – Voices

As soon as they entered the library and found the fire lit, Cain was relieved to find that the girl in his arms no longer resembled the corpse version of herself that he saw in his nightmares. His hand loosened its grip as if to release her, but at that moment she leaned her head into his shoulder and he decided to leave his arm where it was, and his hand eased affectionately against her skin again. He was almost sure that her small gesture was the only reason he had done so. It certainly couldn't be that he felt warmer somehow on that side of his body, or that he wanted to marvel a little longer at how loudly his heart beat against his ribcage when she was close. He had to hold back the urge to roll his eyes as he realized how bad he was at lying to himself.

All thoughts aside, Cain's arm remained around DG until the two of them had crossed the library to the hearth and had been comfortably seated only inches away on the floor, blankets dragged off of a nearby sofa to aid in their effort to get warm again. She almost looked like herself as she curled his coat more tightly around her shoulders, and a blanket securely around her waist as she extended her hands towards the flames. But the Tin Man, being who he was, knew that the warmth that now seemed to radiate from her was merely a reflection of the flames off her paler-than-moonlight skin. It almost worried him that such a part of her as her skin was so prepared to lie to him. If her skin could so easily hide her lack of sleep and warmth, what could the rest of her hide? He sat there, emotions completely exposed for three full minutes as he stared at her. Luckily for him, she seemed to be nervous and refused to remove her eyes from the glowing embers of the fire. He caught himself wondering how well her eyes could disguise the number of tears she shed and very nearly jumped out of his own skin. He knew that if she had looked at him in that moment, she would have seen everything, and the fact that he had come so close to blowing his whole calm demeanor like that shook the Tin Man to his core. What was this girl doing to him?

His eyes tore from her in an instant and instead found a pattern in the enormous rug beneath them to study, something he dedicated all of his concentration to, even when DG finally looked in his direction. He didn't trust his eyes yet. There was still a chance that everything was there for her to read and he couldn't risk that. Luckily, he was still wearing his hat, as always, and the brim of it blocked most of his emotions from flying out at her when he didn't want them to. Still, he was half satisfied when she turned her gaze back into the flames once more, and he just barely held back a gigantic sigh of relief.

DG made sure she was quiet as she took in one last deep calming breath and exhaled slowly. She'd been mentally preparing herself for the past five minutes as she and her Tin Man sat warming and drying by the fire. She was secretly grateful that Cain was, himself, distracted by something when she had gone to start the first time. She had thought she was ready to speak, but her eyes fell upon him and his intense stare boring a hole into the carpet under his hat and her eyes had immediately prickled with tears again. And her mouth had attempted to form words anyway, forcing her to use all of the effort she had left to pull back a sentence before it could reach her vocal chords and emerge as a sob. Even with all of this effort, her breath still hitched audibly and she thanked Ozma that it was apparently quiet enough not to shatter his focus on the carpet. And then, due to the lack of concentration, one or two tears had gathered in her eyes without her meaning them to and she had to turn her face back towards the fire as if to burn them out.

After this last, steadying breath, DG found herself ready to speak without crying (or, rather, as close to ready as she was going to be before the others were awake to hear her). She refused to remove her eyes from the flames, somehow finding it easier to be honest when she wasn't under her bodyguard's frustratingly stoic gaze.

"I've been having visions again," she began. And out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw Cain's concentration shatter and his eyes shoot to hers, utterly bewildered and gloriously vulnerable for a brief, shining moment. But when she let her own eyes flicker over to meet his, they were the same guarded, distant blue eyes she always saw there and she supposed it was just the reflection of the flames in his irises that made them look so open to her for a moment. She found she couldn't maintain eye contact with him for very long. (If this was because she felt too exposed or because she was frustrated with his lack of reaction, she couldn't tell. But she had felt her eyes immediately sting again as they stared into his and she would never, _ever_ let Wyatt Cain see her cry, if she could help it.) There was a considerable pause, although probably not nearly as large as DG made it to be in her own head, before she felt comfortable speaking again.

"They always start out the same, like the others did," she continued finally. She hugged her legs to her chest again as she had before on her bed, and rest her chin in the little valley that was made in-between her knees.

"There's a woman calling me." She thought of her mother in the visions before and tried to compare the two briefly. "She feels familiar," she admitted. "But not like Mom did."

Ever since the news of new visions had escaped her lips, Cain had found himself incapable of looking away from DG's face as she was talking. His brain was immediately racing to try and discover what they could mean, and if they could possibly be a threat. And the only other thing he could do was concentrate on not letting DG see any of this in his eyes- none of the panicked thoughts, none of the emotional reactions… He was amazed that he was still processing what she was saying in the midst of all of this, because honestly, his brain was beginning to feel numb from the sudden rush of activity it was going through.

Part of him wanted to give up the act and just hold onto her and promise to never leave her alone with the visions again, but the other part of him echoed painful realities back at him to the point that his face very nearly flushed red with shame at everything he had let himself feel for her.

'_You're meant to be her bodyguard and nothing more, Cain,'_ the voices reminded him. '_And even if there was something between you, she's a princess, for Ozma's sake. She could never be with a Tin Man, even if she wanted to.'_ And then, perhaps worst of all, they insisted, _'You have nothing to offer her anyway. You're old and rusted and used up and she's so painfully beautiful and young and eager to learn everything about the world. The only thing you're good for is to watch her back, and you know it.'_ And thus, the voices effectively suppressed any ideas the Tin Man had of letting go of the control he'd tried so hard to maintain to this point. He banished the voices from his head and the growing redness from his face and focused his concentration on the girl he couldn't ever have and the words that scared him as they poured from her lips.

"The woman keeps asking me to come to her, and I see this strange…tower…" DG trailed off here, her eyes moving away from the fire and staring instead out of the window nearby, trying to picture the object as it appeared in the dreams. She spied the farthest eastern ridge of the Northern Mountains and for a moment was struck with some strange feeling, some sort of familiarity that she could only liken to what she experienced in the visions. And then, as quickly as the feeling came, it was gone again. She sat in confused silence for a moment, and then struggled to recall the exact picture of the place she'd been seeing in her dreams.

"It looks like a tower, I mean, but it's sort of…pushed back into these cliffs as if someone carved it out of a mountain…" The words felt strange on her tongue even as she spoke them, and the concept of a castle made out of a mountain felt to her both preposterous and completely normal at the same time. She turned her face back to the fire, feeling a pang of guilt as she avoided looking at Cain altogether. She seemed distracted by a particularly bright ember for a moment as she unfolded her hands from her knees and turned them over before the fire once or twice. But Cain did not pressure her to continue, and she found herself unspeakably grateful for that. Perhaps a minute or so passed, long enough for Cain to grow anxious and remove his hat simply for the sake of having something to fiddle with.

"She says there is danger." DG could hear her voice getting upset again already. Annoyed, in this case, at how vague the visions were. "But she doesn't say of what, or who, or when it's coming." Her voice grew higher in pitch as she went, and soon DG was fighting back tears again, and she had drawn her arms back in to hold onto her knees as if for dear life. And then she became annoyed at herself, because she couldn't keep it together, that she had to look so weak in front of her Tin Man, who was always so strong for her that it almost drove her crazy. She buried her face for a moment into her knees and willed herself to get it together. This took a few moments, and Cain rotated his hat nervously in his hands so he wouldn't feel the need to touch her.

DG thought back to the time of the eclipse. She bitterly remembered how much stronger she had been back then- now she felt like a more empty version of herself; like a hollowed out DG tree. But she pushed past the sting and focused instead on how she'd recovered from her weakest moments. Images from her time in the sarcophagus came to mind, and her body immediately flew into the panic response it still seemed to do in small places, and she had to focus very hard to prevent herself from hyperventilating. Her heart was pounding a million miles an hour in her ears, but she forced herself to focus instead on how she'd gotten herself out.

She remembered screaming for help until she could barely hear herself anymore. She remembered being unable to control her breathing or her tears and she especially remembered how that green marble just felt like death all around her, waiting to suffocate her and erase her from the world. She had just wanted someone to save her so badly that she didn't realize for some time that she had the power to free herself. And when she did, she had been so scared, she was sure she wouldn't be able to focus. She had sung to herself in her broken little voice and could hear every inch of her body shaking in the way it sounded. She had only been able to think of the others for so long, willing them to come rescue her, and then suddenly she was alone in the universe and had to rely on her own strength. She remembered thinking she would never make it out alive and then suddenly hearing the bolts fall away.

Even now, she still woke in the night sometimes hyperventilating and soaked in nervous sweat and tears, but every time, as soon as she tasted the crisp night air around her, she was reminded of where she was. It was in these times that she would do something simple like make a little light show for herself in between her palms, and then the magic would surge through her and remind her she was alive and safe with all of her loved ones. And she would be so warm that she could curl up against her pillows again and sleep soundly the rest of the night. Of course, this was before the visions had started. (She'd tried to use her magic to heal this new hurt, but they shattered her concentration and she always felt more cold and drained of energy than she had before.)

When DG lifted her head out of her arms again, she found Cain wringing his hat in his hands and quite fervently chewing on the inside of his cheek. He had that look on his face that told her he was just barely keeping something in. An idea struck her and she decided to address it, if only to spare him any more moments of internal conflict. She extended her hands towards him, and for a moment he was wonderfully dumbstruck and it made her want to laugh. (She could only manage the tiniest of smiles, but it was enough to snap Cain out of whatever reverie he had fallen into.) He swallowed and replaced his hat on his head securely and then hesitantly placed his hands in hers.

It was so strange to see her tiny hands cradling his giant ones as if he was the one that needed comforting. But even stranger was the sensation that shot through the Tin Man's spine at the contact, faster than he could have imagined. He'd been staring at her for the past few minutes while she had been trying to calm herself down. And that whole time, he'd been fighting (and quite frankly, losing) a battle with himself to resist the urge to touch her. And then suddenly, as if she could hear his thoughts, she'd lifted her head and reached out for him, smiling. He'd thought for a moment he'd been dreaming. And then, the electricity hit him.

DG closed her eyes, and for a moment it made Cain think she had felt the electric jolt just as he did. If she was to be honest with herself, she had felt something. But for the time being, she just chalked it up to the magic as it began to flow through them in a circuit. She found that symbol in her palm and concentrated all of her energy in a pool there, and willed it to seep into his body and then back into hers, in a cycle. She nearly laughed when Tutor's voice floated into her head to remind her- _"Let the light flow through you, DG"_. Somehow, she managed to resist, although a smile did curl up the corners of her lips slightly.

Cain was curious, but soon mimicked DG and let his eyes close as well. He was at first taken aback by the warmth as it began in his fingertips. But as it began to spread up his arm and across his chest, he felt it take on a decidedly pleasant sensation, and he gradually felt all of his anxiety from the previous few minutes melt out of him. His brain was flooded with images of her, especially that tiny smile that had struck her as she'd begun whatever magic she was practicing. It was something he'd never seen on her before (probably because her usual smile was always so bright and big), but it wasn't necessarily bad. It meant she felt at least slightly better since they'd started talking, which he thought to be a good sign. But there was some deeper feeling attached to it he didn't wholly understand, something like the desire to kiss that tiny little smile until it grew into her usual, shining grin again. He resisted but he recognized the feeling and, for once when it came to thoughts like those concerning her, he didn't feel himself blush, or feel guilty at all, really. He was surprised.

DG was content, finally feeling the same warmth and, for a moment, forgetting the pain she'd been feeling the past few days and finding herself lost in this unique bliss she only felt around Cain. Suddenly though, a stinging sensation began in her palm, where the magical seal was. She instinctively tightened her grip on Cain's hands, but lost her concentration on the magic when all of the bad thoughts rushed into her mind again. The visions were different this time. Cain was gone. And not just absent but _really_ gone. She was staring down at him and he wouldn't move no matter how many times she screamed that she needed him to come back. His eyes were open and empty, not really looking at her but looking past her, into that place all dead souls travel to. And then she looked around and it wasn't just Cain but everyone. All of her family. All of her friends. All dead.

Cain's eyes snapped open and searched for what could possibly be causing her harm. He saw her face began to shift from one of contentment to one of discomfort, and then gradually to one of pain. And as soon as he saw it, he knew it wasn't just physical pain. He knew this pain. It was the kind of pain that reached into your soul and found something you loved and ripped it out of you. All of the warmth drained out of him in a second and was replaced instead by cold terror.

"DG," he spoke urgently, one of his hands leaving hers to shake her shoulder gently. She jumped and opened her eyes at the jolt, searching all around her for a moment as if trying to identify where she was and what was happening. Her eyes eventually found the man in front of her, and she could tell immediately that he was worried (which was odd, considering who she was looking at). She didn't realize that her body had started shaking or that she had begun crying until her tears obscured the sight of him. At that point, all she could do was collapse forward into him and let it out. She was too weak to fight it now (and, if she were to be honest with herself, the sight of him dead had completely terrified her). She tried to take in a breath and found instead that a sob was still busy pressing all of the air out of her lungs.

Cain was concerned, to say the least, when the strongest girl he's ever known shattered into pieces in front of him. His arms instinctively wrapped around her and pulled her closer (which was quite difficult to do considering she'd more or less gone completely limp). The sound of her attempting to breathe through all of the tears made him increase his grip on her perhaps a little too tightly, but he didn't think he could will his body to let go of her, now that she needed him to hold on. Cain wouldn't dare admit it to himself, but he was paralyzed with fear at the way she was acting. There was something hurting her and, for the first time, it wasn't something he could get rid of with a few well-placed punches or bullets. There was something wrong and he couldn't fix it. And the idea that he couldn't protect her from whatever this was nearly destroyed him as he sat there, clinging to her. His eyes attempted to bore a hole into the floor over her shoulder, as determined as he was to find a way to help her. What could he do? Talk? Would she even be able to tell him what was wrong at this point? At this point, he was willing to try anything.

"I'm here, DG," he said, and he was surprised at how quiet his own voice was. "You're safe." He felt himself swallow a rather determined lump in his throat as he silently hoped she would stay that way. "What happened?" It turned out she was completely capable of speaking, as Cain soon discovered when she instantly answered him (although the answer was much more abstract and sinister than he had anticipated).

"Everyone's dead," DG gasped. "Everyone-" She choked back another sob. "Everyone's dead." Just those words and then she could do nothing more than cry again, her hands clenching to Wyatt's shirt and arm more forcefully than she would have thought her body capable of at that point. Cain also noticed the pressure, and then he began piecing things together. She wouldn't let go of him…no, not wouldn't… _couldn't_… His hand moved from the middle of her back to her head where he was quickly stroking her hair and making quiet shushing noises against her temple. This, miraculously, seemed to calm her down quite a bit, and as her breathing began to settle down, he began to comfort her.

"I am not dead," he began. "And I don't intend to be for a long time." His tone was still gentle, but stubborn in that way he always was, and the sound had a strangely calming effect on DG and her broken brain. "As for everyone else," he continued. "They have a lot of people looking out for them, including me. So don't you think for a second that I'd let anything bad happen to them, or you. Okay?" He pulled away from her for a second to look down at her face, which had actually flushed with some color since he'd last seen it. She looked up at him and nodded obediently, knowing he wouldn't be satisfied until he got an answer.

Her face was still decidedly worried and sad, and Cain had to take a moment to dumbly stare at her as his mind debated over what to do. Part of him very seriously considered kissing her until he saw a smile restored to her face. But only a moment afterwards, the other part of him very loudly reminded him that he was too old for her, and more or less gave his brain a good kick. His eyes tore away from hers, and his grip slackened, only to a degree that she could pull away from him if she so desired. He rationalized his decision to himself to try and ease the ache in his chest- he didn't even know really if kissing her would have put a smile on her face at all.

DG, although she did feel considerably better than she had, felt quite cold now that she was out of Wyatt Cain's arms (and gaze). Once more, the visions had managed to rob her even of the pleasure that her magic had once provided. She pushed herself back on the hardwood floor until she was far enough away for Cain to pull his arms back. From there, she stood and removed the Tin Man's coat. He looked up at her in a half concerned, half confused way as she held it out to him.

"It's nearly breakfast," she said, by way of explanation. "I'm going to change, and then I'm going to make some coffee." Cain could only nod mutely as he stood to accept his coat again. He watched her as she turned and walked across the wide, wide room of the library, and then and urgent thought hit him.

"DG," he said, just above his normal speaking voice, and this was enough to send it booming through the enormous space all around him. She turned back, arms crossed over her chest for decency's sake, and looked at him expectantly. "You know you can't follow these visions, right?" he said, his brow lifting in a concerned way. Even from halfway across the room, he could see her whole body tense up, and he half regretted bringing up the visions again. But this was something he needed to say. "We don't know enough about them," he explained. "It could be a trap." DG didn't say anything but nodded once or twice before turning again and hurrying the rest of the way to the door. Cain didn't stop her this time. She disappeared around the corner and all Cain could do was put his coat back on and bury his hands in his pockets, as he liked to do when deep in thought. He felt the spot where DG had been crying press into his shoulder and his brow furrowed as he suddenly felt the need to destroy his shirt. He was sure he could never bring himself to wear it again, because no matter how many times he washed it, he would still remember that her tears had once been there.


	3. Lessons

**A/N:** Hey guys! I know I'm still not the best with timing but I assure you I'm doing the best I can! Sorry for the kind of abrupt ending on this one. I promise it will flow alright into the next chapter (and that's where things will get intense, so you don't want to miss that one). Until then, enjoy this chapter and the fact that I am a total 100% pureblood nerd. :)

Chapter 3 – Lessons

After changing his shirt (and disposing of the old one in an undoubtedly Cain-like way, most likely involving fire), the Tin Man entered the dining room for breakfast only to come face to face with the youngest princess yet again. (Or rather, she came face to chest with him. He always forgot how small she was.) They barely managed not to crash into each other, but both of them seemed to be at a loss for what to do next. Cain looked down at her, and her bright (but not as bright as usual) blue eyes looked right back at him. He noticed she'd changed into her usual attire- denim pants and something she called a t-shirt (although really he couldn't see what it had to do with tea at all). Also she wore a soft grey jacket with a hood on it and a zipper up the front. His mouth turned down slightly in one corner. Grey did her some serious injustice, in his opinion. It reminded him of the phantom version of her.

DG also seemed to take note of his attire, specifically that his shirt was a different color than it had been before. (He'd been wearing a white one earlier, and this one was blue.) She stared at it as if she were seeing things, but in her head she knew she was right- he had most definitely been wearing a different shirt. She wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the change. Mostly, she couldn't understand what his reason for it could possibly be, and this was what confused her most. Once they had stood there awkwardly staring at each other for a sufficient amount of time, Ahamo looked up from his breakfast.

"Oh, there he is," he remarked. "I told you he'd be around soon enough, darling." DG recovered at her father's words and turned away from Cain finally, walking rather like a wounded puppy back to the table. Cain was puzzled by Ahamo's statement. He stepped towards the table as well and decided to satisfy his curiosity.

"Were you looking for me, Princess?" he wondered, tacking her title onto the end of his sentence hastily. (After a whole morning of calling her nothing but DG, he had nearly forgotten she was anything but the girl who freed him from the tin suit.) Her silverware clattered to the table, attracting the attention of her entire family. She looked up from her breakfast (which he quickly noted she wasn't actually eating) and over to him, her eyes widening with something like shock or panic. He saw her mouth open and close once or twice as if she didn't know what to say. Finally, she managed to stumble through something.

"I just wanted to ask about those self-defense lessons we talked about," she said, almost too fast. Azkadelia turned back to her food after a moment, and her mother and Ahamo both turned their eyes to Cain. Luckily, he had always been quick to catch on.

"Oh. Right," he said. He paused as a servant brought him a plate full of food. "Well, I can show you a few things after breakfast, if you like," he said. It was Azkadelia's turn to drop her silverware, and when everyone looked in her direction, she was also gaping over at Cain with wide, startled eyes. She recovered more easily than DG.

"I'll come with you, if you don't mind," she said, a little awkwardly, but not enough to arouse suspicion in her parents. "The Longcoats got a bit too close last time, I'd like to know how to give one a really good sock in the jaw, in case it should happen again." Cain blinked at her, knowing her to be quite capable of some physical violence when she needed to be, and wondered how he'd possibly be able to shake her off after the meal. Lavender Eyes turned back to DG.

"Well, I'm glad you've finally come to your senses, dear," she said. "I think a lesson from Mr. Cain could be quite useful, even if you do think you can take care of yourself." Cain couldn't help but smile at this, and his eyes flickered back over to DG, who shrugged and managed a tiny smile back.

"It couldn't hurt to know more defensive moves," she answered. Azkadelia nearly choked on her water down the table, but this time when the gazes turned to her again, she was very determinedly not looking at any of them, choosing instead to focus intently on her eggs.

After they had finished their meals, Cain and DG rose to leave the table under the guise of a self-defense lesson. Azkadelia was sure to jump up from the table as well and join them, an act so awkwardly abrupt that Ahamo and the Queen stared at the trio as they left the hall, the former with a forkful of eggs halfway up to his mouth.

"I must say, I never knew Az would be so concerned with learning how to fight," Lavender Eyes said after a moment. "She's usually all about books and science."

The Tin Man and the two princesses walked some distance away from the dining room in awkward silence. Ignorant of what the others were doing, each of the three looked suspiciously around, as if afraid of someone following them, or taking notice of their strange behavior. This, of course, achieved nothing but to make them look more conspicuous. Once they were out in the courtyard in the center of the castle, Azkadelia turned to Cain.

"As I'm sure you know, I don't actually need any self defense lessons," she said. Cain nodded and lifted an eyebrow as he wondered to himself where she was going with this. "It's just that you reminded me of something I had to ask my sister that I couldn't ask in front of our parents. Do you mind if I speak with her alone for a moment?" Cain was not expecting that. His eyes darted over to DG to ask if it was okay for him to leave. She returned his gaze and nodded slightly, and Cain turned his attention back to Az.

"Of course, I'll just wait…over there…" he said, pausing to find a spot to lurk that was far enough away for their conversation to be private (but close enough for him to still be able to hear if he felt he needed to). He turned and headed to the spot after a moment, leaning against a wall and trying to find something to focus on besides the girls' conversation. As soon as he was out of earshot (with a few more seconds tacked on to account for Cain-hearing), Az stepped close to her sister and took her arm, beginning to pace through the garden in a direction away from Cain.

"Are you and Cain having sex?" she asked in a hushed voice. DG immediately felt her face begin to burn, and she was sure she looked rather like a fish with the way her eyes snapped open wide. She turned to her sister to throw a shocked look at her, a look that Az somehow completely misread.

"Oh Great Gale, you are! How long?" she said, covering her mouth with her hands. DG shook her head furiously and answered, a little louder than she meant to, "We're not!".

Cain glanced over at the pair when he heard DG raise her voice. But she looked back and waved at him a little to signal to him that she was fine and he made sure to turn his focus away again so he wasn't eavesdropping. DG turned back to her sister and lowered her voice.

"What made you think Cain and I were-?" she demanded. Azkadelia huddled closer to her, and DG welcomed the warmness her sister's presence always seemed to bring.

"Oh, come on Deeg," she said, nearly rolling her eyes. "Self defense lessons? _'I can show you a few things after breakfast'_? _**'More defensive moves'**_?" Her tone became more implying as she went on and DG eventually got the point.

"Okay, okay, I get it," she said. "But just because your mind fell into the gutter doesn't mean we're down there with you." Azkadelia chuckled lowly.

"Well you two obviously have _something_ going on," she said. "You were seconds away from attacking each other before father spoke up, and you couldn't stop looking at each other during breakfast." She turned and poked at DG's ribs playfully. "Did you play footsie under the table too?" DG joined Az in laughing this time around and curled her arm more securely around her sister's. Briefly, she wondered if she should be amused or worried that her sister, who had lived in the O.Z. her entire life, understood the concept of footsie.

"No, really, we're not doing anything like that," she said. She could still feel the leftover blush in her cheeks, but its presence there made her smile. It was secretly nice, to her, to think of Cain that way. Once she realized her _own_ mind had fallen into the gutter, she shook her head slightly, and the blush on her face increased once more, which she couldn't help but smile at a little more. Azkadelia smiled too and nodded sagely.

"Oh, I see," she said. DG looked over to her questioningly and stopped walking. Az returned the look, and then stopped as well, to adjust their arms so they were holding hands and so the magic seals were pressed together. The warmth rushed through both of them in an instant, and DG's smile softened from something embarrassed into something peaceful (something she hadn't felt in quite a while). "Yes, I'm sure of it now," Az continued as she began walking again. DG followed suit, looking curiously over at her sister, whose eyes glittered when she looked at her to speak her next words. "You're in love with him," she concluded.

For the first time, DG found that she had to actually process this information herself. She'd never really thought about it before. Sure, she had certain impulses around him, certain feelings. But were they love? She was silent for a few moments, the smile on her face increasing just a bit more every second. When she turned back to Az, her eyes were sparkling too, in a way they hadn't since before the visions. "You're right," she said finally, in a voice that told Az she had just figured it out herself. Her sister stopped again and hugged her tightly, laughter bubbling out of her from the sheer joy she was feeling.

"He loves you too, DG," she said, still hugging her as tight as she could. "I know it." DG took a moment, pressed as she was over her sister's shoulder, to glance back at Cain. He was staring with very determined interest at the clouds, as if deliberately trying to distract himself from their private conversation. She was flattered that he knew how important Az was to her, and wanted to respect their privacy. (But she still caught him glancing back over at them discreetly whenever possible.) Az finally pulled back from the embrace and, holding onto DG's arms firmly, looked her straight in the eyes.

"Don't be afraid to go after him, like me," she instructed, almost sadly. DG's smile fell away ever so slightly, and her head tilted as if to ask her sister what she meant. Az looked down, and then back up again, almost guiltily. "Ambrose," she said quietly. DG understood at once. Her sister had admired their mother's advisor even when they were kids. And now that she was the real Az again, she had found that the feelings had never really gone away. DG hugged her sister again, knowing how hard it must be for her, the type of internal struggles she'd had to deal with. Horrible things had happened in the time of the witch. DG wished there was some way she could convince her sister that it wasn't her fault.

"You have nothing to be scared of, Az," she said. "You know Ambrose adores you too." The sisters pulled away again and Azkadelia's face was tight, her brow furrowed, and she was trying very obviously not to cry. DG squeezed her arms slightly and smiled at her. "He _loves_ you, Az. Just…watch him for a little bit some night at dinner," she instructed. "And count how many times he looks at you." Az continued to tear up a little anyway, but smiled and nodded. She sighed, managed a small laugh and wiped the unshed tears out of her eyes.

"Well, I'll leave you and your Tin Man to those lessons now," she said. And, looking like a woman who never had reason to shed a tear in her life, Az turned and started back in Cain's direction. DG admired, for a moment, her regal gait- something she had never seemed to master, despite the fact that _she took lessons on the subject of walking_ (which she despised). She was at once confused and awed by her sister's utterly complete poise. Following her after a moment or two, DG decided that, if there was anything to be learned from Azkadelia by just looking at her, it was definitely how royalty should present themselves. She almost lamented that she wasn't the image of royal perfection she was expected to be, but then she reasoned that then she would not be DG, and she really wouldn't ever want to be anyone else. Az reached Cain before DG did, and she stopped and looked him square in the eye, an action which left Cain rather unsettled (not that he would ever admit to being intimidated by a girl ten years younger than him, and half his size).

"Don't hurt her," she said. And Cain knew, just looking into her eyes, that this statement went far beyond the potential harm that a fake self-defense lesson could cause. They both knew exactly what she was talking about, and for a split second Cain was completely frozen to the spot. But, in the next second, Az punched him playfully on the arm and flashed a smile at him as she continued past. Cain chuckled under his breath and nodded to her to show he understood. DG had undoubtedly taught her something about a punch in the shoulder being a sign of friendship to a man, something learned from the Other Side, no doubt. He remembered her trying to explain it to him at some point, but he could never really understand much of the knowledge she brought from her life before. In the O.Z., men tended to express friendship with a handshake…or a fistfight, depending on how close they were.

DG approached in the next few seconds ignorant as to what had just been said, having been out of normal human earshot and having a distinct lack of Cain-hearing. She waved a little at her sister who waved back and smiled, starting down the hallway in a direction that DG knew to be vaguely pointed towards Ambrose's study. Cain had also watched her go, and continued watching even after she had disappeared, as if to make sure she was really gone.

"What was that about?" he wondered. He turned his head back to face DG, only to find that she was already staring at him. No, not staring… More like _studying_. Without missing a beat though, she hinted at her sister's interest in Ambrose (without saying anything definite one way or the other). Then, in a demonstration of the kind of effortless charm that made DG _so_ DG, she let her eyes flicker up to his as she brought a finger to her lips. And she winked at him. (And it honestly felt as if his heart stopped for a full minute.) But she was back to studying him so intently and in such a split second that Cain scarcely believed he was seeing things correctly. One of his eyebrows lifted in curiosity all on its own, but he didn't dare shatter whatever trance she was in with words. He still wasn't really sure how to feel about this whole experience. (He was, after all, the one that usually did the examining.) He felt his chest tighten slightly under her gaze and found himself briefly wondering if his body was trying to make him look tougher or simply keep his breathing under control. Either way, he didn't appreciate it. He was sure he'd been less nervous before under gunfire…

Now that she'd spoken to Azkadelia (and been honest about _something_), DG found herself feeling better than she had in days. And it was perhaps for this reason that she allowed herself to take her time and let her mind wander as she studied Cain. She thought back to the time of the eclipse, when his eyes had been so much more…_tragic_. He'd still been so deeply wounded, every look he gave her had something hidden behind it that she was too afraid to try and identify. And he still looked at her that way, but with something different behind his eyes. She thought once or twice that she had come close to figuring out what it was, but she could never be sure with him. Cain was a man who had perfected the art of keeping his thoughts and emotions to himself when he wanted to. And whatever this was, it was apparently something he felt needed to be kept secret from her (which hurt her pride, but just a little). Still, even that was enough to give DG hope. There was a chance, however small it might be, that he was feeling the same things she was. And that was enough for her, for now.

DG's eyes eased back up to Cain's after a moment. And that same look was there, as if he wanted to tell her something but couldn't bring himself to say the words. She understood. It was exactly how she'd been feeling since the visions began. She faced every one of the people she was close to and had been unable to tell them the truth about what was happening to her (except him, of course). Her mouth turned up into a smile brighter than he had seen in days and she was comforted by the fact that she wasn't the only one doing some secret keeping around the castle. (And more than that, she was standing there with the man she loved, just standing and not feeling pressured or awkward or anxious about it for once. She felt as if she could burst from happiness in that moment.) Cain quirked an eyebrow at her again, utterly confused by this point, now that he had been stared at for some time. Finally, he had to shatter the silence. (But, as much as he wanted to know what he had done to warrant such a thorough examination, he was still too afraid of the type of things her answer could be. For while they may be answers he wanted to hear, he still wasn't entirely sure it was in her best interests to say them to him.)

"So, what made you decide to come looking for me this morning?" he wondered instead. (Still a personal question, perhaps, but not nearly as personal as the other might have been.) DG's expression changed slightly, her features dimming only slightly as she answered him.

"Well I was sitting there with my family, and I had to keep reminding myself why I couldn't tell any of them about the visions…" she said. Her smile was not as wide, and was growing smaller with every new word (and Cain cursed himself for asking the type of question that made that smile go away).

"I just wanted to be with someone I didn't have to feel guilty around…" she added, and she met Cain's eyes again. She let one corner of her mouth turn up again, but Cain could tell she was really only putting forth the effort for his sake now. Earlier, she'd been genuinely happy, and once he'd opened his mouth, he'd successfully brought her down again. Great Gale, he was such an idiot.

After a brief moment of eye contact with Cain (which DG was sure she was becoming entirely too fond of), she stepped back and glanced around for any unseen eavesdroppers.

"Well," she said, her eyes listing around the empty courtyard. "We'd better at least pretend to practice some self-defense moves, just in case someone should come by." Cain nodded his agreement and followed her into the open space between two heavily ornate horticulture sculptures. DG thought for a moment.

"Teach me about pressure points," she said. "Mom and Dad would like a lesson like that if they overheard it." Cain looked at her quizzically for a moment and DG stared right back before laughing slightly and moving forward to teach him about pressure points so he could later "teach" her about pressure points when there were any other eyes around to see it. She'd always been sure she knew more on the subject than him, and this just proved her right.

A few minutes later, Lavender Eyes rounded the corner to find the Tin Man explaining something about a "Vulcan Nerve Pinch" to her daughter, and gripping a spot on her shoulder that looked quite painful indeed. Luckily, she decided to interrupt for a moment before they could move on (because the Vulcan Nerve Pinch happened to be the only thing they had been able to cover before she'd decided to sit in on the lesson, and Cain had been about to just pull out his pistol and explain how to use that instead).

"Mister Cain," she called, and the Tin Man and the youngest princess gratefully broke from their ruse to turn their attention to her. "Once you've completed the lesson I'd like to see you in my study about an urgent matter." The pair in the courtyard was suddenly very still and rigid and they quickly threw a nervous glance between themselves before Cain nodded his understanding.

"Of course, Your Highness," he said. The Queen returned his nod and paced evenly but quickly back down the way she came. As soon as she was gone, DG released a shaky breath and turned to Cain with eyes that were suddenly wounded.

"What's this about?" she wondered, anxiously sinking her teeth into her lower lip. She quieted her voice for a moment and added, hoarsely. "Do you think they found out?"

Cain glanced from DG's eyes (already stinging with tears) to the place the Queen had vanished. "I have no idea," he said quietly. And for the first time in a long time, he really didn't.


End file.
